Cinnamon Tastes Like Chirstmas
by inkheart9459
Summary: Emma didn't know what she'd be doing in New York when she set out, but playing for tips while her fingers freeze off wasn't it. When she's packing up for lunch, however, she runs into a brunette woman and finds that maybe playing for tips might not have been all bad after all.


This is for day one of Swan Queen Week Winter 2015; meet-cute AU. Hope you guys enjoy.

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><p>Emma set her guitar down around lunch time. She was starving and she knew she had enough in her case to spare at least a couple bucks to grab a cheeseburger. Her fingers ached from playing for so long in the cold. If she went to eat at least they could warm up as well before she went back out to play. Maybe if she splurged on a hot chocolate right before she went back out again she would stay warm for a little longer than she had this morning.<p>

She packed up her guitar and sighed. The nearest McDonalds was about a block from here. At least it wasn't too far of a walk.

Emma had no idea what she thought she was going to do in New York City right after she had gotten out of jail, but it hadn't been busking for change just to get by. But jobs were hard to come by in the wake of the of the dotcom bubble busting, especially jobs that would hire an eighteen year old with a GED that paid an actual living wage. Emma, on a good day, and with a good spot, could make more than minimum wage and she was far too proud to work at a fast food joint. So she kept on playing. Though soon it would be far too cold and she wasn't sure what she was going to do then. Maybe scout out some more bars and apply for more bartending jobs.

Her case slammed into a woman in front of her while she had been spaced out. Emma fell forward and twisted her body so she didn't land on her guitar case. She couldn't lose her only means for money at the moment. But the pavement hurdling towards her face didn't exactly look like a pleasant option either. In the split second before the ground she hoped that whatever happened to her wouldn't need medical attention.

She hit the ground hard, breath knocked out of her in a rush of air. She felt the concrete scrape against her cheek and tear her skin open. She winced at the pain but managed not to cry out. Weakness in a city this size was never a good thing to display.

The woman she had run into had turned around, probably to scold whoever had run into her. She looked down at Emma with dark brown eyes, narrowed and short brown hair blowing in the wind. She wasn't much older than Emma, maybe five years or so. She couldn't recall anyone looking more beautiful. Until the woman opened her mouth.

"Watch where you're going!" She sneered down at Emma, white teeth flashing in the noon time sun.

Emma unstuck her cheek from the ground and sat up, hand still protectively curled around the handle of her guitar case. "Sorry." She used her free hand to rub her neck, hissing at the bolt of pain that ran through her. She didn't think she would need medical attention, but she was going to have to wash out the wound on her face as soon as possible to avoid infection. "I was spaced out."

The woman's eyes flicked from Emma's to the side of her face. The woman's expression twisted into a wince, eyes conflicted. She held out a hand for Emma.

Emma smiled at her and pulled herself up carefully. She patted herself just to make sure that everything was still in place. It seemed like it was as long as her head didn't get all foggy like she had a concussion again she'd be fine. She really didn't want to have to ask her roommates to wake her up every hour throughout the night. She didn't trust them that much yet, not that Mary Margret and Ruby weren't good people, but she had known them all of six months and that just wasn't long enough for her to trust anyone.

"Thanks. Listen, I really am sorry about running into you. I just get lost in my head sometimes when I'm thinking about food." She smiled again, aiming for her normal, charming smile that seemed to unarm everyone around her.

The brunette didn't look impressed, instead her eyes darted back again to Emma's cheek. "It's quite alright. It seems that you're the one who got the worst of your own clumsiness so I suppose all is as it should be." She paused for a moment, clearly considering something. "Do you have anywhere to go to wash and bandage your face?"

Emma shrugged. "I was just going to go wash it in the sink at McDonalds while I grabbed lunch. I have to get back out here later to make sure I have enough money for my share of the rent." She held up her guitar. "It doesn't pay much, but it's something."

The woman's lip curled at that. "A street performer. How quaint."

Emma's hackles rose at the derisive tone. She could get being pissy over getting run into, but this was ridiculous. "Yeah, well, trying to find a job is a bit hard and this pays the bills, so what does it matter."

The woman snorted. "Whatever you say, dear, but if you don't have a place to clean yourself, I have a first-aid kit in my purse. You can clean yourself up with it and have some bandages while you're at it. I don't think playing for pocket lint would get you enough money to pay for a doctor's trip."

Emma almost turned it down, she did, but the woman was right and a first-aid kit was a lot better than a sink in a McDonald's bathroom. "Fine, whatever."

The woman dug into her purse for a second and handed Emma a medium sized box. Emma walked over to the nearest bench, plopped her guitar between her feet and sat down, setting the box on her lap and picking through to get what she needed. She pulled out alcohol swabs and started to swipe at her face furiously. It hurt like a son of a bitch and she wanted it to be over with. She also really wanted to be away from the bitch of a woman in front of her.

The brunette scoffed again. "Really, dear, do you not even know how to clean your wounds right? Didn't your parents teach you anything?"

"Well, considering I have no parents, no, no they didn't." Emma glared at her. That usually shut up each and every person that used that same sentence around her. They didn't quite know what to do with it.

The woman blinked and sighed. She batted Emma's hand away from her cheek, ripped open a new alcohol pad and set to cleaning Emma's face in a much more gentle way. Emma sat there stiffly. Well, this was new. Since when did strangers in the city clean wounds for each other?

She bandaged up Emma's face quickly and efficiently after cleaning it, like she'd done it a million times. Emma rubbed the back of her neck as the brunette leaned away. This was all totally out of her realm of understanding. She felt like running away with a quick thank you but something held her there.

"Thanks," she said. Emma was sure her face was red, well the part of it that could be seen around the bandage anyway. She wondered if her tips were going to be as good with this thing on her face. "Um, my name's Emma by the way."

"Regina," the woman said, extending a hand. "I would say it's nice to meet you but given the circumstances that might be taken the wrong way."

Emma snorted at that. "Well, maybe, I don't give any guarantees."

They sat in awkward silence for a minute.

Regina moved to get up. "I should be going, lots to do of course."

Emma reached out and grabbed her wrist but immediately pulled back when she realized what she'd done. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "reflex, but um, maybe you'd like to get some coffee? It could be an apology for running into you and a thank you for bandaging my face."

Something had shifted while Regina had been cleaning her face. The woman was harsh in words but so very gentle in touch. It was such an odd combination. And with the way Emma's skin still tingled with Regina's touch, well, maybe there was something to explore there. Or maybe the blow to the head was getting to her.

Whatever, didn't matter, Regina was a beautiful woman and a coffee date of a sort wouldn't exactly be a waste of time, would it? If she skipped the cheeseburgers for lunch she could squeak it out of her budget. If Regina said yes anyway.

The other woman looked hesitant, halfway between standing and sitting, making her decision.

"It's a cup of coffee, if nothing else it's free food right?" Emma smiled at her again, this time much more genuinely with much less charm.

"I suppose it wouldn't be _too_ much of an inconvenience. But I do have a day job to get back to, so mind you I am on a time frame."

Emma nodded. "Of course, of course. I know this great little hole in the wall place half a block from here that serves ridiculously good coffee and has really comfy chairs."

"Grannys?"

Emma lit up. "Yeah, you know it?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, Granny and I are well acquainted. She makes better coffee than that crap from Starbucks for half the price."

"_Right_, I know." She stood up from the bench and started to walk towards Granny's. Regina fell into step beside her naturally. "That's one thing I love about big cities, there are all these little hidden gems if you just know where to look for them."

Regina hummed. "Yes, I'm coming to discover that for myself."

Emma looked over at Regina, both of them walking at a good pace, Emma swinging her guitar at the side. Regina looked like a city girl born and bred, but that comment would suggest otherwise. "Not from here?"

"No, I'm from a little town up in Maine no one has ever heard of called Storybrooke. I'm a small town girl like everyone else here it seems like."

Emma laughed. "Yeah, well, the city does have its draws."

"Are you from here, Emma?" Regina cocked her eyebrow.

Emma looked away. To be truthful or not, that was the question. She'd barely met this woman half an hour ago, was it really worth digging back into her past? "No, um, actually I'm from Maine I guess, but no real town in particular. I moved around a lot. Being a foster kid you don't really stay in one place all that much."

She felt Regina's eyes on her for a long moment, felt that Regina wanted to say something, but all the other woman said was, "Oh, I see."

Emma looked back at the brunette. That wasn't the response she was used to. Most people offered her pity or condolences on her experiences, no matter if they knew or not that she had suffered. Emma disliked those people immensely. She wasn't someone to be pitied. But Regina had done neither.

"Yeah, well, after I got out I ran from city to city trying to find a place to belong. I'm not exactly sure I've managed yet, but I'm trying."

Regina nodded. "I understand what you mean."

The way that Regina said those words made Emma think there was a lot more to them than just a feeling of being young and lost. But it wasn't Emma's place to push, she barely knew the woman and so she let it go.

Emma cleared her throat to dispel the weird air around them. "So, uh, obviously you know what I do for a living at least for right now, but what do you do?"

"I'm a political consultant for a business."

Emma nodded. "Oh, sounds fancy."

Regina laughed. "Oh, not really, a great deal of it is telling stupid people not to do stupid things because there will be political backlash, but I do enjoy it, if only to see the looks on men's faces when I tell them just how wrong some of their thinking is."

Now that Emma could totally see from the looks and glares Regina had given her. She seemed like the hard ass kind of person who enjoyed others being wrong and herself being completely in charge.

"That sounds entertaining. Do they sputter a lot? Because I've always thought that rich old white guys would sputter when told they're wrong."

Regina smiled for the first time and Emma felt like she had just gotten punched in the gut. Holy shit, the woman was beautiful, but when she smiled it just did _things_ and Emma wasn't even sure what they were, but it didn't matter.

"Some of them do, some of them definitely do. The more entertaining ones though go beet red and storm about the office like two year olds. My son just turned two and I assure you, it's an accurate comparison."

They had just reached Granny's as Regina finished speaking. She made a mental note to ask Regina about her son and then opened the door for Regina. She waved the woman through with a small smile.

"God knows if I go first I might trip or something and bring you down with me."

A smirk graced Regina's face as she entered the small coffee shop. They both walked up to the counter where Granny was standing, polishing a few cups, spectacles high on her head, grumpy expression on her face like normal. She glanced up at the newcomers and scowled a little less. Emma had come to realize that was as close as the older woman got to smiling.

"Hot chocolate with cinnamon and a double shot latte with snickerdoodle."

Both women nodded.

"Go sit down I'll bring them to you." She waved both of them off as she started to bustle around the small space behind the counter.

Regina led them to a table in the corner. Emma sighed. She liked being in corners. They were safer, let her see everything that was going on around her. Regina sat primly in her seat while Emma slumped into hers.

"I didn't know I had come here enough for her to remember my order," Regina said, adjusting her purse on the seat behind her.

Emma laughed. "She has a mind like a trap, that one. Come in here more than once and she'll remember you for a while."

"You know her well?"

Emma shrugged. "She's one of my roommate's grandma's. She's a good lady and she loves Ruby to death. That's really all I know about it. Most of the stuff has come from Ruby."

Regina nodded. "I see."

"So you have a son?" Emma asked. She leaned forward on the table.

Regina's face lit up at the same time as it became more guarded. "I do. As I said, he just turned two. He's a wonderful little boy, smart for his age. He's more eloquent than some of the men I work with. I love him to the moon and back."

Emma smiled warmly at her. "I can tell. He's lucky to have a mother like you. I would have killed for that."

Regina's smiled faded just a little. "So would I."

Emma looked up at her and studied her intently. There was a story there. With words like that there always was. It hit Emma like a bag of bricks that having a family didn't necessarily mean that everything was butterflies and roses. Sometimes she forgot that in her longing for one.

Granny chose that minute to bustle out with their drinks. She set them down in steaming mugs and walked back off without another word. Emma wrapped her hands around the warm ceramic and sighed. Oh blessed heat. She wasn't sure her hands were ever going to be warm again.

She looked up at Regina. She wanted to lighten the conversation but there was something itching at the back of her mind that she had to know the answer to. "So, your son is he more of a mommy's or daddy's boy?"

Regina stiffened further. "His father…he died before he was ever born. It's just me and him."

"I'm sorry." Emma wanted to reach out but knew that it wasn't her place.

"It's fine, you didn't know. Part of the reason I left home was to get away from the bad memories. The other part was to give Henry more opportunities than I ever had. Small town Maine isn't exactly rife with choices."

Emma snorted. "Don't I know it." One of the first things she had done at sixteen had been to get the fuck out of Maine with the money she had stolen from her last foster family. She had ended up in Boston and then continued from there.

Regina smiled wanly at that. "Tell me, you said you travelled from place to place looking for somewhere to stay, what was your favorite city so far?"

Emma thought it over, not minding the change in subject. "I did like Tallahassee. I stayed there for a couple of months when I was still sixteen. It was warm when I was there, not quite winter not quite real spring yet since it was still in the sixties and seventies. It was nice, very southern, and southern hospitality is actually a thing. Well, if you're white anyway. I saw some things that weren't exactly so hospitable down there, but I guess you run that risk in any big city. Phoenix was where I was before this. It was way too hot but the food was on point most of the time. Chicago was windy, it really did live up to its name. I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras once, wouldn't recommend living there. I don't know why, just wasn't right for me. Boston was probably my second favorite. I liked the history there. You could barely move without being hit in the face with it. The people are also a little nicer than here. New York so far, well I like it, there's always something to do, but when you have like zero money some of that excitement is taken away. Mostly it's the people I know here that make it nicer than some of the places. I've stopped in a good deal of the states for a week or so, but there are few places I stay more than that. They have to have something more about them and here does."

"Wow, I didn't expect that you have been to so many places. You're what, eighteen?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, well, when you're not tied down by anything you can do a lot. There's always someone somewhere that's looking for someone to work under the table so I got money to travel that way and just kept on."

Regina looked away, mind in a faraway place. "It seems like I've always been tied down."

"You don't have to be if you don't want to, not anymore."

"But Henry…" She trailed off.

"He's young, take him with you. Not being tied down doesn't have to mean that you don't have a home to come back to, it just means you can leave. Vacations, little weekend getaways, hell even just exploring the city itself, they all have a sense of freedom about them, you know?"

Regina looked and Emma, eyes squinted and head tilted. "I suppose you're right." She picked up and took a drink. She sighed and closed her eyes and set the mug back down, looking content.

"You know, if I had to guess, I would have said you would have been a black coffee girl, but snickerdoodle?" Emma laughed.

Regina's eyes opened and the glare was back. "Snickerdoodle is a perfectly legitimate coffee flavor. You aren't even drinking coffee and who puts cinnamon on hot chocolate?"

"Think of it as the less intense version of when the Mayans used to put cayenne in their hot chocolate. Besides, it makes it taste like Christmas."

Regina remained silent for a long time. "That's why I drink snickerdoodle flavored things. My father used to make them around the holidays."

Emma hummed. "Something about cinnamon just always means Christmas. I know I'm not the only one that thinks so, so you aren't either." She licked her lips. "Damn it now I want snickerdoodles."

Regina laughed. "Serves you right for making fun of my coffee."

"Hey, I wasn't making fun of it, only pointing out that the whole no nonsense attitude back there in the park kind lent itself more towards black coffee than snickerdoodle."

"And do you always assume so blatantly, Emma? You do know what they say about that."

Emma rolled her eyes and swiped her finger through the remaining whipped cream on her hot chocolate. She liked when it all melted in, but there was always something about licking a bit off your finger too.

"Yeah, yeah, forgive me your majesty." She mock bowed.

Regina laughed again and oh Emma was never really going to get used to that feeling of her stomach flipping.

"If I'm the Queen, then what are you, the jester?"

Emma reared back in mock offense. "No, of course not, I'm the knight of course." She laughed at the completely disbelieving look on Regina's face.

Regina's face softened after a second. "Squire I could believe with how clumsy you are. You were on the ground less than an hour ago."

"Yes, but I was on the ground because I didn't want to damage the lady in front of me. See I'm knight like."

"Uh huh, I still stand for squire. It's a compromise between knight and jester."

Emma crossed her arms and pouted for half a second before nodding. "Fine, fine, I'll take squire over jester any day. Those hats are just ridiculous."

"I'm glad you've seen it my way." Regina's smile this time was sly and so very pleased with herself. Emma couldn't exactly resent that fact. She had put that smile there after all.

They settled into a comfortable silence after that, sipping their drinks. Emma hit the end of hers much too soon. She frowned at her empty cup. Hot chocolate never lasted as long as you wanted it too.

She looked up at Regina again. "So, cheesy stereotypical just met questions time, what's your favorite movie?"

Regina blushed and looked away.

Emma leaned forward again, pushing her cup aside, this was going to be good if Regina's expression was anything to go by. "What?" she pushed.

"Well, it really isn't one movie, but three. I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy."

Emma crowed. "Oh my god, that's great. I love those movies, too, they aren't my favorite, but they're really good. I really like cheesy disaster movies. Like the Day After Tomorrow. It's gold."

Regina rolled her eyes at that. "Oh please, that isn't gold, that's trash and completely ridiculous and the CGI isn't even that great."

"I really don't think the point of movies like those is to be anything but ridiculous. It's what makes them so funny. And come on, out of all the ones out there The Day After Tomorrow is probably one of the more realistic ones."

Regina shrugged a shoulder. "Fine, I'll give you at least that much. At least your tastes aren't completely horrible in movies if you at least like the Lord of the Rings."

"I am a person of high culture, don't you know," Emma deadpanned.

Regina snorted and shook her head. "I'm not so sure I believe you."

"Yeah, well I try. How about what kind of music do you like?" Emma was excited for this answer. Regina had defied her expectations on every single question so far so she had no idea what to expect.

"It's a mix. I enjoy a great deal of this from the forties, fifties, and sixties, pop, rock and jazz alike. The seventies and eighties however, aren't my favorite. When you get back into the nineties there's a few I like on more the grungy side and hard rock. Nirvana is always appreciated. Now it's more of an indie rock kind of deal. The pop music today isn't really my style anymore but there always is that random catchy song every now and then. Classical is usually mixed in somewhere as well. Also my father listened to a great deal of Spanish music when I was younger. I still have a good amount of his records. I do love them." Regina sighed and looked sad for just a second before coming back to herself. "What about you."

"Nirvana, you and I share some common ground. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, things in that line, you know?"

Regina nodded. "Well, at least your music tastes aren't as horrible as your movie tastes."

They both jumped as Regina's phone went off in her purse. She scrambled to turn around and answer it.

"Hello?" She answered, voice still a little higher than it was a moment before from the scare.

"No, no, I just lost track of time at lunch. I'm sorry. I'll be there as soon as possible I'm only a block away."

Emma scowled that had to be her work on the phone. She sighed. Their little impromptu date was at an end. Emma was going to have to go back out into the cold and play some more. Regina was going to go off back to her life. The thought made her so very sad. She didn't want this to end.

Regina hung up the phone and started to stand. "I'm so sorry to cut this short, but that was my boss on the line. There's a meeting I'm supposed to be at right now that I'm obviously not at." She was flustered now. She started to gather her stuff.

"Don't worry about it. Go make more old white guys mad." She smiled, but it was bittersweet.

Regina paused in the gathering of her stuff. "Do you have a cell?"

"I do actually, but it's one of those cheap ass little tracphones with hardly any minutes on it. Mostly I keep it for emergencies and finding my friends in crowds when we go out."

Regina held out her hand. Emma dug around in her pockets and handed the little thing to her. It was barely the size of her palm. Regina quickly punched in her name and number and handed it back to Emma.

"You have a phone at your apartment."

Emma nodded.

"Call me when you get home then from your home phone. I'd like to do this again, if you would?"

Emma smiled so brightly it hurt her cheeks. "Oh my god, yeah, yeah I really would."

Regina smiled back at her. "Good, but for now, goodbye. I look forward to your call." And with that she turned and left Granny's in a rush, hair flying behind her.

Granny came up a second later. "Got it bad for that one already, don't you."

Emma just looked at Granny like she was insane. "I just met her."

Granny shook her head and walked off with the empty cups. "Don't bother with paying, it's on the house this time."

She muttered something else but Emma didn't quite catch it; it sounded something like idiots in love. She just shouted her thanks back at the other woman and went back out in the cold to play again.


End file.
